Bake Bread for Peace on 24th

The 24th October is the 69th Birthday of the United Nations - I'm posting this a couple of days early to give you a chance to take part in this event.   

A friend of mine from Donegal, Breezy Kelly, is a storyteller who bakes bread while she tells stories.   She came up with the idea of baking bread in peace and for peace.   When hands are kneading flour they can't be holding weapons.  

Her idea has been travelling around the globe.  

24th October 2014 is International Bake Bread for Peace Day.

To quote Breezy 

We are all at a loss for words to describe our sadness about the dis ease in the world at present and things seem to be going from bad to worse. We hear talks of cease fires, talks, talks and more talks but the madness goes on. The world wide chaos is so terrible that we try not to look at it , bury our heads in the sand and hope that it will go away, we feel helpless that there seems to be nothing we can do and yet we want to do something. Breaking Bread together is a Universal sign of Peace, this is something we can do together, no blaming, no making anyone right or wrong, just baking and sharing Bread to reach out in Peace and for Peace. Together, just maybe we can make a difference. Join us on October 24th for "International Bake Bread for Peace Day", get your thinking hats on, create an event in your area, in your kitchen, in your local school, it's up to you. Share your ideas with us, send photos, advertise your events, spread the word far and wide that we want Peace! Gentle thoughts to you all.

Join or simply visit, the Facebook page to get more info and to post into it if you feel like joining in. 

Bake Bread for Peace Facebook Community Page

And for good measure, here's Breezy's recipe for Wheaten Bread.

And lastly, here's a video of another good friend who wrote a fantastic song called Fresh Bread - he talks about seeing women in the Shankhill area of Belfast throwing loaves of bread across the barricades to the women in the Falls during one particularly bad episode of our recent history here.  

In this video he's singing for Spoken Dance - a group of wheelchair bound and abled bodied dancers from Limerick.  

Wishing Peace to all my friends around the world.  

I am also submitting this blog as Day 11 of a 30 day blog challenge that I'm taking part in.

Who cares!

With concerts over the past couple of days I'm a bit behind with my 30 day blogging challenge so this is short and sweet and tomorrow will be catch up day.

I try to not watch the news too much - headlines are enough to see all the badness that's out there.   But I'm at a total loss to see why (a) there's so much interest in Oscar Pistorius' trial .... why has he captured the media attention to such a degree?   The cynic in me suspects diversion tactics.   And (b) who cares what Renee Zellweger has done to her face!!  I spend far too much time on Facebook, and I noticed her name coming up a few times this evening and, wondering what new movie has she coming out, I clicked in to find 100s of people aghast that she apparently looks younger now that she used to!!!   Duh!!

I don't get it - all the more reason to not tune in.

OK, rant over - see you tomorrow with something calm and sensible - ish lol

This blog is Day 10 of Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge

Singing Tips - grow your own movie

Singing to me is first and foremost about painting a picture .... if I can't see the scene in words I'm singing, like my own private movie, then I can't get into the song and find it very very difficult to sing.   To me, that is the x factor, and when another singer has their picture clear in their mind, the words that they sing allow the listener to see their own movie....

I've found over the years, that the first picture I see when I first hear a song, stays the same forever unless I consciously try to change it.   If you are having difficulty with your voice on a  certain phrase in a song you're practicing, forget about the notes for a while and instead picture the words - each word ... what do you see when you say the word moonlight for example .... where is the scene?  Is the moon full or crescent or on the wane?  is it winter or summer, raining or clear etc...  build up the scene in your mind's eye and you'll soon find that the notes are taking care of themselves.

Moon over Carlingford Lough

This blog is Day 9 of Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge

Irish Songs in a Woman's Key: The Sally Gardens

All the guitar song books that I've come across, for folk music or particularly for Irish songs, annotate the songs in keys that are suitable for men.   Women who are starting to play guitar and who haven't mastered the art of transposing yet ( a subject for another post) try to play the songs and give up really quickly because either the song is way too low or way too high.  

Several of my female students ask me for the chords of songs so I thought it'd be good to start a series here with particular focus on Irish songs, both traditional and contemporary.  These keys are the keys in which I play and sing the songs.   If you need to go a little bit higher, add your capo to the first or second fret.

The Sally Gardens, 
written by W.B.Yeats in 1889 
The tune is traditional (The Maids of the Mountain Shore)

              G                 D      C     G

It was down by the Sally Gar-dens

         C         D          G

My love and I did meet.

G              D        C   G

She passed the Sally Gar-dens

            C     D                G

With little snow-white feet

        Em      Am          D

She bid me take love easy

             C                 D        G

As the leaves grow on the tree.

       G            D              C   G

But I being young and fool-ish

                 C          D    G

And with her did not agree.

G             D       C     G

In a field down by the ri - ver

         C         D          G

My love and I did stand

        G          D          C      G

And on my leaning shoulder

        C           D                 G

She laid her snow-white hand.

        Em      Am         D

She bid me take life easy,

             C               D            G

As the grass grows on the weirs,

       G         D             C      G

But I was young and fool-ish

        C             D        G

And now am full of tears.

Repeat Verse 1.

Here's a beautiful version of this song, sung by Maura O'Connell and Karen Mathieson on the wonderful TV show, the Transatlantic Sessions.   
The key above is the same as they're singing in here.

This blog is Day 8 of Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge

Rewriting a song for a new era

Recently I've come across a bunch of songs I wrote back in the mid 90s - around the time of the ceasefires here - it's hard to believe that's 20 years ago now.  We had a referendum back then to vote for power sharing I seem to remember - certainly it was a vote for peace.   The songs are angry and hopeful at the same time - demanding action from our politicians and commenting on their anger and single minded hatred.

Today our politicians are no better - we still vote for tribes here - yet we're governed by a bunch of idiots in Westminster that no more talk for us than they do for the people of England, Scotland or Wales with the one difference that we don't even get to vote for them.

Here we have no opposition.  It's power sharing of the worst kind - us and them together - one hand can't be moved without the other agreeing so there is constant stalemate to the point of ineffectiveness.  It is so frustrating.

Anyway, back to the songs.   I've moved on in the type of music I write or sing nowadays and it's hard to find a new fit for these songs but I don't want to lose them.

This one is called Talk About

Chorus
What you gonna talk about when there's nothing left to talk about?
What you gonna talk about when there's nothing left to say?
What you gonna shout about? What you gonna lie about?
What you gonna talk about when there's nothing left to say?

Your passion and your anger left me speechless
Nothing you would say could change my mind
Your paranoic outbursts on the TV
Show your generation must be left behind

Your energy re-channelled could move mountains
Your passion could be put to better use
The hatred and distortion on a face some think is handsome
Could be a blessing if you only called a truce. 

Chorus

The staying power you've shown is without question
Your single minded mission has been clear
Just think what great achievements you'd have brokered
Had you led by hope and never led by fear

So Mr Politician can you hear me
The people have all spoken with one voice
Together you can build a future worthy of what's lost
It's time to think about our present not our past.

This blog is Day 7 of Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge

How Wolves Change Rivers; Singing Tips.

A weird combination of a subject line you might say, but bear with me ....

I thought this video was so interesting.   What Nature can do when it's left to its own devices.  It's only 4 minutes long but well worth the watch.



One of biggest problems for students of singing is getting out of their own way to allow their voices to improve.   The nature of our voices knows exactly what to do to sing but out heads stop us.  The thousand and one voices in our head that tell us we're not good enough need to be stilled and if we learn no other lesson from a singing class then this one is the most important.

So how do you do that?

For me, it's about concentrating on words ... I wrote a blog about it here ....  If, when we're talking, we didn't focus on what we are saying, we'd come out with some serious gobbledegook.   Try it .... Think about your clothes for example and then try talking to someone .... It just doesn't work.   Or if you were to think about how you're talking - same thing - your mind is not on the words your saying.

So why should it be different for singing?   If we concentrate on what we're trying to say (sing) to the exclusion of all the worries of I'm not good enough, I can't sing, they'll think I'm stupid etc - your voice will then be able to get on with improving on its own.

This blog is Day 6 of Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge

Messing with filters

This new camera is a thing of wonder!!! :)   I've always loved photos that pick out one colour and leave everything else black and white - you see it a lot in adverts.  But I thought it was some hifalutin trick in a TV studio editing suite ... But lo and behold I can do it on my camera ... whoop ...

I haven't the heart to cut the fuchsia yet although I can hardly see out ..

but I'm not sure I like it ... it's a very cold effect.  Still, it may come in useful sometime.   All you wonderful photographists out there can maybe give me some tips?  Pretty please?

Cotoneaster in full berry

Have you tried out anything new this week?  Do write and tell me.

This blog is Day 5 linking in to Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge